04 April 2012 12:39 PM

Tesco Value's miserable life ended

Tesco Value food, in its (in)famous blue and white stripes, looked like something that would be thrown off the back of a truck by UN aid workers, and was about as appetising.

You would've thought Tesco Value was perfectly placed to clean up in the age of austerity. Thrifty is nifty and people are happy to boast about grabbing a bargain.

But the function of Tesco Value wasn't to offer shoppers a good deal. Or at least it wasn't the only function.

It also enabled Tesco the chance to lower expectations of their shoppers so that its more expensive lines - the organic stuff or the 'Finest' products - appeared more desireable. Tesco Value seemed designed to be so unappealing that shoppers were shamed into buying the more expensive alternatives on the next shelf.

This effect worked rather well for Tesco in the good times, but no longer. The supermarket saw £5bn wiped from its share value after issuing a profits warning in January. Rivals have been eating away at its dominance with cut-price items that are less embarrasing to buy.

Tesco has admitted defeat and will rename its cheapest items under a less severe looking 'Everyday Value' brand. Tesco hopes it can appeal as both cheap AND cheerful.

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Comments

There's just something unnatural associating the blue colour with food. And you're so right about the 'shamefulness' of being seen buying 'cheap' products. I've recently retired and my income has dropped by nearly 75%, but I still find it hard to buy these products. I'm embarrassed.

@worthy of merit? No that's not worthy at all. What you are suggesting is that Tesco sell less of something for less money but puts these new smaller items in different branding. Same quality + Same size for less money, doesn't work out from a business perspective does it? The 'value' and 'basics' ranges at supermarkets are just that - products on an inherently lower quality (less lean meat, more potato etc) in plainer packaging so that they cost less to produce and and can be sold at a lower price, albeit with non-doubt hefty margin still attached. As for the Blog, it's just a middle-class rant - "oh the shame of economising", get a grip - it's food, you cook it and eat it. The bacon "scraps" taste the same in a sandwich as the rest of the bacon, stop being so childish.

The colour scheme should be a reversed white text on a dark blue background with the name Tesco Merit, and also the product quality must be as least as good as the standard range BUT in merit colour packaging, possibly with very slightly smaller product size.